ND Weekend in Danbury

The only things we can be sure of are death and taxes... and debauchery when Knott boys reunite!

Rutt, Twan, and Styles

In the middle of October, Styles (who now for some unknown reason goes by "Drew") and his awesome wife Ashley invited us and the Rutts (Chris, Ariane, and their sweet son Xavier) to their house in Danbury, CT, to cheer on the Irish against USC.  It was a beautiful fall weekend (albeit a little damp) of fun, friendship, football... and foolishness!

We all arrived on Saturday in time for lunch, after which Ariane and I took the little guys across the way to Stew Leonards, which we thought was just a grocery store but ended up being so much more.  If you've never been to a Stew's, let's just say it's an experience.  For example, free hayrides...

Joergen, Ariane, Xavier, and Liam

"This way, Xavier!"

... a giant pumpkin patch...

... and some seriously interactive in-store displays!

After a lot of fun playing beanbags and throwing around the football outside, it was finally time for the ND game to start.

Liam was introduced to the concept of push ups after each ND score, and we were very happy that he had several to do... in the first half, anyway.  The second half was scoreless and unbelievably boring-- which was dangerous for what was already a late starting game to begin with!

Notre Dame did beat the Trojans, thankfully - but with all that downtime, the little guys sure did get restless.  They were pretty much constantly in motion!

And the subject of their interest was almost always Styles and Ashley's poor, poor cat...

Q. What's the best thing to do when little boys are up past their bedtimes and hyped up beyond belief?
A. Let them eat marshmallows the size of their hands!

Fortunately, they did finally crash from the excitement (and sugar), and Liam enjoyed some adorable bonding time with Chris.  Liam loved their slow-motion fight scenes and sharing groan-worthy knock-knock jokes!

Then, after a nostalgic round of the 90210 drinking game, let's just say that the little guys weren't the only ones who passed out from over-indulgence...

Thanks to Styles and Ashley for hosting a fantastic weekend!!

Divide and Conquer (Columbus Day Weekend)

Over Columbus Day weekend, Dad took Liam on a special trip to Milford to visit our Illinois family and celebrate our all-time favorite football coach as they dedicated "Sam Fanning Stadium" at Milford High School.  Liam was beyond thrilled to get to go on this trip with Daddy!  And he was double-spoiled the day before he left, when Theresa bought him Dots and his very first Starbucks to wish him a bon voyage.

Both Dad and Liam had an amazing weekend.  Liam loved hanging out with his cousins...

watching cousin Aidan's football game...

and getting to play in the Annual Derry-German football game!

They got to spend some time with Uncle Jake...

and Uncle Andrew... (don't ask!)

And Grandma made sure Liam was well taken care of in the safe treats department!

S'mores by the fire pit

Celebrating Toni's 13th birthday with his Derry and Ronna cousins

Back in the good old K of P, I enjoyed my first solo weekend with Joergen.  Although I of course missed Dad and Liam, it was just so nice to have time one-on-one with my baby boy.  I loved every minute of our sweet time together!

On Saturday morning, we decided to meet up with my choir friend Chrissie, her husband Doug, and their adorable daughter Kate at Rotorfest, a helicopter air show just a few miles away at the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester.  It was pretty cool!

Joergen in front of a military chopper

Watching the show

Checking out the inside of one of the choppers on display, waving "Hi Mom!"

"Ok, Kate- let's fly this thing."

"Or this thing!"

One thing I love about Kate and Joergen is that they are both thumb suckers.  It's really cute!  You can see Kate sucking her thumb in the photo above and Joergen in the photo below.  I think they bonded a little over this.

Sassy-pants Joergen.  And yes, he accessorized himself!

Chrissie took this photo of Joergen and I talking about the helicopters during the show.  I think *someone* was getting tired...

On Saturday night after dinner, Caitlyn came over to play with Joergen while I had a little Girls Night Out with Jen at Painting with a Twist.  So. Much. Fun. 

Jen and I with our creations

I have to say, one of my favorite parts of the weekend was getting to say "yes" to almost anything Joergen asked.  It felt like such a luxury to have no real plans, to eat when we wanted, and to have no one else vying for attention.  So when Joergen would say, "Mom, will you play wiff me?"  "Can we go for a walk to dee park?" "Will you read me a dory (story)?"

My answer was Yes, Yes, and Yes!!

Doing construction puzzles

Making silly faces

One evening Joergen wanted to go for a walk, and as we walked around the pond near our house at sunset, this overwhelming feeling of peace and gratitude just kind of took over.  The park was so beautiful with the leaves turning, and I felt so grateful to be living right here and even more so for this special time with my Joergen.  And suddenly I heard this little voice say, "I wuv you, Mom."

It was all I could do to get out the words, "I love you too, buddy."

Fall Fun Weekend

To us, the fall means football, pumpkins, family, and friends.  The first week of October, we did our best to experience all of those things in a single weekend.  It was very fun, totally exhausting, and we wouldn't have changed a thing!

We started off the weekend at Villanova for our first football game there (and hey- it's only taken me 10 years working there to finally get to a game).  My cousin Bobby is a freshman at 'Nova and earned a spot on the team, so what better time to go support the Wildcats!  Nana and Grandpa came for the day, and we were excited to tailgate with my Uncle John and cousin Gretchen, her husband Robert, and their other son Christian (Bobby's brother).

Liam and Uncle John

Christian, me, Gretchen, and Nana

Christian and Liam playing catch. Liam was so thrilled to play with a "big kid"!

Nice catch, Liam!

Juice box break!

Nap break!

It was a hot day (surprisingly so for early October), but it was a really exciting game.  After a few nail biters, the Wildcats beat William and Mary!  Go Wildcats!

Afterwards, we waited outside the locker room to see Bobby in his uniform and congratulate him on the team's victory.  When Liam first saw Bobby, he looked up at him in awe and said, "Whoa... you're like a real college football player."  

Looking forward to cheering Bobby on over the next few years!  I think he's got some serious fans.

Later that night, I took my sunburned self to join Cathleen at a fundraiser for her parish school: designer handbag bingo.   Ladies, have you heard of this?!  This is like a thing now.  We didn't win anything, but it was crazy and hysterical, and we are so definitely doing that again!

On Sunday after church, we headed over to Jersey to visit Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie for a gorgeous fall day picking apples and pumpkins.  There is an awesome farm close to their house that had every fun fall thing we could think of!

Colin, Liam, Genevieve, and Joergen.  LOVE!

All aboard the hayride!

Liam just loves to hold his baby cousin!

 First stop: the apple orchards.

"This way, Colin!"

Joergen putting an apple into his sack

Liam snagging one from a high branch

And then it was off to the pumpkin patch!

"How about this one?"

"I'm thinking this one."

"No, this one!"

"What do you think, Genevieve and Uncle Tim?"

 We couldn't decide either, so we got them all :)

After a busy and very fun afternoon at the farm, Aunt Jackie made us a yummy dinner back at their house, complete with musical selections from these guys:

I really couldn't have imagined a more perfect fall weekend!